Jaani Dushman Ek Anokhi Kahani  is a revenge drama. A pretty young girl (Manisha Koirala), who was a naagin in her previous birth, is raped by two of her college-mates (Rajat Bedi and Siddharth). She commits suicide, assuming that not just the two of them but all the other boys (including Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Sonu Nigam) in her group of friends were also responsible for her rape. The ichchhadhari naag (Munish Kohli), which was her lover in the previous birth, avenges her rape and death by killing all the boys one by one. A couple of the boys are also killed by her spirit. In the end, the brother (Sunny Deol) of the last boy (Sonu Nigam), aided by a super-natural power, succeeds in killing the ichchhadhari naag.

Inspired from Nagin, the film abounds in special effects and action. What it lacks in is logic and haunting melodies so essential for a film which deals with rebirth. The first half is very fast-paced and has some clapworthy scenes. The pace drops in the second half and logic takes a back seat. Further, the murder, one by one, of the innocent boys who were not at all involved in the heinous crime, gives a feeling to the audience, of having been cheated.What is worse is that among the guys killed are heroes with truly action images, like Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty.

The biggest twist in the story, which is the reason for the ichchhadhari naag going on a killing spree, rests on a weak foundation - Rajat Bedi changing his voice to fool Manisha into literally walking into the trap to rape her. Further, the misunderstanding that the other boys were also involved, never gets cleared, which is a weak link. It seems to have been left unclarified with the sole intention of furthering the story. Although the climax is good, two points in it - besides the lack of logic (Suny Deol reaches the place of action without so much as a hint!) - are jarring: one, the priest (Raj Babbar) getting spiritual powers to kill the ichchhadhari naag looks too contrived; secondly, he-man Sunny Deol having to be helped by a magical power lets his fans down quite badly. Yet another weak point is that drama is missing in the multi-starrer.

Sunny Deol has a brief role but he shines whenever he comes on the screen. Akshay Kumar does very well in action scenes and his death is a letdown. Sunil Shetty is lovely in the scene in which he fights with Manisha Koirala's spirit which enters his own body. His death, too, comes as a dampener. Manisha Koirala does a fine job. 

Sonu Nigam makes an average debut as he gets hardly any scope to perform in the heavy assemblage of stars. He looks good and acts naturally. Aftab Shivdasani gets very limited scope and is alright. Rambha is okay. Aditya Pancholi passes muster and so does Sharad Kapoor. Arshad Warsi endears himself to the audience in a brief role. Rajat Bedi is effective. Siddharth does an average job. Raj Babbar leaves a mark. Munish Kohli, aided by a good get-up, is impressive. Amrish Puri is okay in a guest appearance. Johny Lever and Upasna Singh's comedy is for the front-benchers only. Kiran Rathod, Mohini Sharma, Kiran Kumar, Raza Murad, Shahbaaz Khan, Aman Verma, Ali Khan, Raju Mawani, Gavin Packard and Atul Agnihotri (special appearance) lend ordinary support. Jaspal Bhatti's comedy is anything but entertaining.

Rajkumar Kohli's direction is aimed at entertaining the masses only. With scant attention paid to the script (Rajkumar Kohli and Naveena Bhandari), Kohli invests all his efforts and energies to the special effects and the action scenes. While these will get the initial mass audiences everywhere, the lack of a coherent script will tell badly on the longevity of the film's run. K.K. Singh's dialogues are average.

Music, though good, is a letdown in the film because songs are forced and their picturisations are ordinary. Although ‘Aaja aaja' is well-tuned, the haunting melody one would associate with a song of this genre is completely missing. ‘Gyarah baje ya barah baje', ‘Na honge kabhi milke juda', ‘Chal kudiye' and ‘Jaaneman tu khub hai' are well-tuned but have the dated feel. Although a naag-naagin film, it does not have the been music which one associates with this genre of films, in its songs.

Action (Tinnu Verma and Abbas Ali) has thrill for the masses. Camerawork is fairly good. Editing is tacky. Special effects (V. Govardhan) are plenty and quite novel for the Hindi film audience. Some of them, like Munish Kohli running on water and changing forms, are beautiful. However, creation of the snake through computer graphics instead of using an actual snake robs the film of its native appeal. Production and other technical values are of a fair standard.

On the whole, Jaani Dushman Ek Anokhi Kahani is a film for the masses and for small centres. It will fare differently in different circuits. In North India, it will trudge to the safety mark on the strength of strong initial value, exciting special effects, action and star value. But in South, it will fail to recover its cost. In the other circuits, its business will be average. Collections in big cities and multiplexes will be dull.